Drug company will pay Delaware $2 million to resolve fraud allegations

Tuesday

Nov 5, 2013 at 9:23 AM

Attorney General Beau Biden announced Nov. 4 that the state will be paid $2 million by Johnson and Johnson as part of a national settlement.

Staff Reports

Attorney General Beau Biden announced Nov. 4 that the state will be paid $2 million by Johnson and Johnson as part of a national settlement.

Johnson and Johnson will pay the state as part of a national settlement to resolve allegations that the New Jersey-based pharmaceutical manufacturer fraudulently marketed the anti-psychotic drugs Risperdal and Invega. Of this payment, secured for Delaware by the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), the Delaware Medicaid and Medical Assistance program will directly recoup more than $900,000 in civil restitution and fines.

"Pharmaceutical companies that do not follow the rules and pitch their product to the public for purposes that have not been approved will be held accountable," Biden said.

Nationwide, Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., will pay state and federal governments $1.2 billion over charges that the companies promoted and marketed Risperdal and Invega for uses that were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Going forward, Delaware will receive an additional 10 percent bonus in its share of future settlements in cases like this under the Delaware False Claims and Reporting Act thanks to legislation Biden and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit proposed to the General Assembly and enacted earlier this year.